USPS reorganizes to support IMB implementation

The US Postal Service announced some major organizational changes on July 1 designed to make the agency more competitive and responsive to its customers' needs.

“The goal is to make us more nimble, make us more focused and to manage our products more aggressively,” said Postmaster General Potter during a conference call with reporters this morning. The reorganization is designed to eliminate redundancy within the agency and to put together a “go-to” market game plan, he said.

The reorganization will combine all major shipping and mailing products in one division. The other division will focus on customer relations, the USPS said.

In addition, Tom Day, SVP of Intelligent Mail and address quality, will now report to Pat Donahoe, deputy postmaster general and COO. Day previously reported to the postmaster general.

“We've changed our organizational structure first to better align ourselves to make sure that the Intelligent Mail barcode effort is successful and that the leaders in the organization speak with one voice,” Potter said. The Intelligent Mail barcode, developed by the USPS to encode routing and tracking information on mail, will eventually replace Postnet barcode, which only contains the routing code.

Coupled with these organizational changes, Potter also announced several new appointments including that of Robert F. Bernstock as president of the newly formed shipping and mailing services division. This new division will combine product management, product development and commercials sales. According to the USPS, $70 billion of annual postal revenue fall into this category.

Before joining the USPS, Bernstock served as president and COO of Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., president and CEO of Atlas Commerce, and EVP of Campbell Soup Co.

David Shoenfeld, former SVP of worldwide marketing for FedEx, has also joined the USPS as SVP of mailing services, which is a newly created position. Shoenfeld will report to Bernstock.

Stephen Kearney, current VP of pricing and classification for the USPS, will become SVP of the new customer relations division. According to the USPS, “this group will centralize the key consumer and business customer relationships, external and internal communications, as well as integrating pricing into a single unit.”

During the call, Potter also noted that USPS CMO and EVP Anita Bizzotto had told him that she would be stepping down from her position by the end of this year.

When asked if the proposed changes will result in consolidations and possible staff impacts, Potter replied that any impacts “will be worked out” as the wholesale pieces of the organization are moved into the new structure. “So we're going to let that all shake out,” he said.

Overall, Potters said that he anticipated that the new changes would enable the USPS to better serve mid-to-small sized businesses, which are a source of opportunity for the agency.

“I expect that this new organization is going to influence the postal service and will be responsible for implementation for product changes and be accountable for their success,” Potter said. “We're excited about these changes and we're excited about taking advantage of the opportunities that exist.”

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